Cameroonian admits to conspiracy to fraud

Cameroonian Yanou Babo Ullin faced Magistrate Franco Depasquale in court this morning and said "thank you" for having spared him from going to prison, after ordering his removal by tomorrow to return to France.

"I hope that you will not commit another mistake in Malta over the next four years," Depasquale told the accused, who replied: "No sir, thank you."

Yanou Babo Ullin was arrested at the airport yesterday soon after his arrival from Paris, as customs officers and Drug Squad police conducted a search on his belongings, having recieved an 'alert' on his name in the airport's passenger movements system.

While nothing relevenat was found by the Drug Squad, customs officers seized a package containing three stacks of black papers, the size of €500 notes.

Ullin was handed over to the police after it was established that the papers were the same which were found to have been used to dupe businessmen into believing that they would turn into real money once washed in a special chemical. 'Black Money' is a notorious African scam.

A number of Nigerians have already been prosecuted in Malta over similar scams.

Addressing the court, police inspector Anna Marie Micallef explained that when interrogated, Ullin said that he had come to Malta a month after his previous trip, where he had to meet some  friends to shoot a film on African migrants, who reached Malta and turned to crime, using black money as a source to finance their stay.

Ullin however could not point out who these friends were, even though he said he had to meet them yesterday at an 'African bar' in Bugibba whcih he didn't know where this was.

A search on his phone revealed a number of Maltese telephone numbers, Inspector Micallef said.

Meanwhile, defence lawyer Patrick Valentino said that his client was prepared to register a guilty plea, as long as he was allowed to return to France tomorrow.

While the prosecution did not object to a suspended sentence, the Court ordered that Ullin be handed over to Immigration Police and accompany him to the airport and have him removed from the island by tomorrow.